The Awakening Artistry and the Heart-full Dancer project is a collaboration between Dr. Shannon Simonelli of the NeuroImaginal® Institute and William Earle Smith, Creative Director of the Madison Ballet. They designed the project to support pre-professional ballet dancers in their strong classical technique while developing a flow of movement, musicality, and emotional expression that expresses and embodies enthusiastic energy, freedom, and joy in the body and in the dance. The overarching objective of this offering is to awaken trained ballet dancers to their passion and artistry. The Awakening Artistry and the Heart-full Dancer is designed as a continuation and enrichment of the artistic and technical training of pre-professional dancers. The project will be field tested the summer of 2013 in Madison, Wisconsin. The project has a research component using pre and post questionnaires for participants as well as an interview at the end of the experience to better evaluate the embodied self-awareness and experience of the dancer.

An adaptation of the original project’s summer intensive structure is being offered to College and University Ballet Departments, in an intensive format by Dr. Shannon Simonelli. It is proposed as an innovative supplemental offering in an intensive format for College and University Ballet Departments. View/download the program flyer here. Contact the Institute for a comprehensive proposal.

Project objective:

An innovative offering for pre-professional dancers, [and college and University Ballet Departments] with the goal: To deepen the artistry, humanity and technical training of pre-professional dancers, offering a competitive edge towards being exceptional, premium dancers while supporting them in the continued development of themselves as a whole, healthy and balanced person.

A secondary opportunity is research using both validated self-report scales pre and post experience as well as phenomenological interview with the intention of publishing. Videotaping may also be a component of data collection.

Project structure:
This project is a new development and offered as a two-week summer intensive, imbedded into the Madison Ballet Summer Intensive offerings. Morning classes of Technique, conditioning and Repertoire will be offered by William Earle Smith and weave in the teaching and focus of the afternoon offering of Dr. Simonelli’s NeuroImaginal® Somatic approach.

This project can also be designed in collaboration with a hosting University Ballet program. There are modules within the design that can be, to a certain extent, selected like building blocks. Depending on the goal of the hosting program, scheduling needs and limitations, Awakening Artistry and the Heart-full Dancer could be offered over an intensive weekend or several days, or woven throughout a week or two week schedule. Please contact the Institute to discuss your goals and parameters.

Narrative:
Awakening Artistry and the Heart-full Dancer is designed to facilitate intermediate and advance level pre-professional dancers in a continuation of their artistic and technical training, assisting them to become more fully embodied, passionate, expressive artists.

This project is movement centered, body based, and change focused. It guides and supports dancers to explore a broader range of freedom of expression in and through the body on the dance floor and in life. The modalities dancers will work in fall under the umbrella of NeuroImaginal Somatics and include 5Rhythms Movement Therapy, witnessing and echoing, embodied awareness, art process, reflective writing, group movement experiments, guided meditation, guided visualization/ journeywork, brain based shifting and group process. This intermodal way of working is evidence based, brain based, body and Soul-centered; it creates the fabric of the NeuroImaginal Somatic Approach, which is the foundation for this project.

Shannon Simonelli Ph.D., ATR is the co-founder of the NeuroImaginal Institute, the founder of RemedyWave classes and workshops and a lead facilitator with Healer Within Retreats. . She integrates therapeutic yoga, dance, movement, art, guided journeywork, the imagination, embodied awareness, belief shifting strategies, ritual, eco and spiritual psychology in her work. She has been writing since adolescents.